Philippine fighter dies after sparring match

Boxing starlet Jeffrey Claro dies after falling into coma following sparring session (Image: Facebook)

A Philippine boxer who was involved in a recent scandal over faked brain scans has died after a sparring session, sports officials said Tuesday.

Jeffrey Claro fell into a coma and later died after being knocked down in the second round of his match on Friday, said Dioscoro Bautista, head of the boxing division of the Games and Amusement Board.

The board is looking into the incident. Some 150 Filipino boxers, including Claro, were banned in August for falsifying the results of brain scans which were ordered to detect serious head injuries.

The boxers submitted false CT scan results, apparently because they could not afford an actual test.

While Claro, 20, was among those banned, he was cleared for a match in November after he submitted new CT scan results on September 7, board members said.

Games and Amusement Board medical chief Radentor Viernes said they checked Claro's new test results and found them to be genuine, adding that they showed no signs of any injury.

But a scan after he lapsed into a coma showed that Claro had a fresh brain injury, probably from a blow while sparring, and an older brain injury incurred after September 7.

The combined injuries probably led to his death, Viernes told AFP.

Claro had been wearing protective headgear in the sparring match before his death, Bautista said.

Philippine flyweight Karlo Maquinto died in 2012 aged 21 after being knocked down twice in a match with another Filipino.